AUBURN HILLS --- The grind of the NBA
season is about to get a whole lot more grueling for the Detroit
Pistons.

Because of the NBA lockout, teams are
being asked to play more games in fewer days than ever before. In the
Pistons' case, that means four games in four cities in five days
beginning tonight in Philadelphia.

After that, it's on to Milwaukee
Monday, New York Tuesday and New Jersey Wednesday. Just in case that
isn't enough, they'll host Milwaukee and New Orleans next Friday and
Saturday.

For those of you keeping score at home,
that's six games in eight days.

The pace is going to be especially
trying on newcomers like rookie point guard Brandon Knight, who is
still getting adjusted to life in the NBA. Knight is going to lean on the Pistons'
training staff to get through the next week.

“As a rookie, this is your first year
and you don't know what to expect so you have to listen to people who
have done it before,” said Knight, who scored 20 points and had a
career-high eight assists Friday in a 107-101 overtime loss to
Atlanta.

“(In college) conference tournaments,
you play back-to-back-to-back, no days off, but this is a different
level. You're playing against great players and the games are much
longer.”

NBA players aren't used to playing on
more than two consecutive nights during a normal season but that's
irrelevant as far as coach Lawrence Frank is concerned.

“The NBA is a no sympathy league,”
Frank said. “You line them up and you better come out and give your
best effort and compete. And that's what we fully expect.”